Beltre could return Tuesday; Washburn making last start?

The Seattle Mariners have a chance to add a quality bat and Gold Glove caliber defender to their lineup next week and they don’t need to trade away the farm to get him.

Manager Don Wakamatsu said veteran third baseman Adrian Beltre looks strong in his recovery from the shoulder surgery he underwent four weeks ago and could be activated by next Tuesday when the Mariners open a road series in Kansas City.

Adrian Beltre

Beltre, who had bone spurs removed from his left shoulder on June 30 and was expected to miss 6-8 weeks, has been swinging the bat and going through drills well ahead of schedule.

He took batting practice again Tuesday and then fielded ground balls at third base, looking perfectly fine doing both.

“His (batting practice) yesterday was as good as I’ve seen in a long time,” Wakamatsu said. “He says he feels great. Our concern is to not rush it too much and get activated and then have to go right back on (the DL). That’s our biggest fear.”

The manager said he doesn’t think Beltre will even require a rehab stint in the minor leagues, based on how he’s looked.

“We’ll see in the next couple days how he reacts after BP, but he was hitting balls in the upper deck yesterday. He’s said several times that this feels better than when he had his first surgery, so that’s a good sign.”

Beltre was hitting .259 with five home runs and 31 RBIs when he underwent surgery. Those numbers are off his usual production, but far better than what the Mariners have been getting from replacements Jack Hannahan (.194) and Chris Woodward (.233).

Wakamatsu said Russell Branyan and Jose Lopez would sit out of tonight’s game with Toronto, missing their second straight games with sore backs, though he expects both could be back by Wednesday.

Jarrod Washburn

As for the trade deadline, there was no news Tuesday as Jarrod Washburn prepared to take the mound for what could be his final game with the Mariners. The M’s did say that GM Jack Zduriencik will not travel with the team to Texas on Thursday as he normally does, choosing to stay behind and work on things from the home office as the deadline arrives Friday.

Wakamatsu declined to comment on whether he was surprised Washburn was still with the team after all the trade rumors.

But when asked who would replace Erik Bedard in the rotation coming up, with Bedard now on the DL, the skipper tossed out an interesting comment.

After a long pause, he then added: “We’re still monitoring guys down in Triple-A. There are guys we’ve talked to. (Right-hander Doug) Fister is pitching pretty well down there and has been mentioned. We’re going to look at every option.”

Maybe I’m reading too much between the lines, but Wakamatsu almost seemed to be indicating he thought the club could add new pitching via trade, then covered himself by mentioning Tacoma options. But if Washburn gets shipped, the Mariners would need another starter just to fill his slot, so that doesn’t make sense unless Zduriencik is trying to pick up major-league ready arms in return.